Fate Renewed
by Sith Jesto
Summary: When Judson is kidnapped to solve the mystery of the past. The consequence is more life changing then anyone would have expected.


Title: Fate Renewed

Category:** Adventure Inc.**

Main Character:** Judson, Mac, Gabe**

Summary:_When Judson is kidnapped to solve the mystery of the past. The consequence is more life changing then anyone would have expected._

It was one of these days. He couldn't help but wondered why he even climbed out of his bed. Maybe he was just getting old and his body couldn't take this kind of abuse anymore and this heat; it was just too much. He could feel the sweet pouring down on his back and his aching muscles spasm up with every step he made. His labored breathing sound awful loud in his ear.

A violent shove sent him to his knees, his aching, probably broken ribs protested, making him feel nausea. His head swam; from the lack of water in this South American' jungle's heat combined with consciousness. His muscles burned from the strain, and his arms felt kind of numb in their restrain.

"Get up Cross." His abductor growled, jabbing him good naturally with the butt of his gun in a way to encourage him to move. Judson Cross, world renowned explorer and treasure hunter, throw one of his infamous glares at his tormentor. To tell the truth it wasn't working too well at that moment. Who knew why? Maybe it had something to do, with his bloody image or it was just too early and ruined the effect, of course it could be because of his vision swam in and out of focus with his ever throbbing headache. Really these guys needed to learn the finer points of kidnapping; after all you couldn't beat someone to unconsciousness then expect them to hike through a jungle. It was just impossible.

He swallowed the bill that treated to came up as he climbed to his feet, it was slow and painful process, his legs weren't really cooperating, only his abductor's strong hold kept him from kneeling over again. It would have been plain embarrassing. He closed his eyes in vain hope to gain control over his wobbling legs and spinning head. Not that it help, much.

He spent a few minuets to wonder what become of his team, he wasn't sure if they lived or died. He could only hope for the best. His throat closed up and faint shivers run down his abused body when he thought about his team's fate. What wouldn't he give for Mac to appear just now? It was a bitter sweet thought, he was well aware even if his team was alive, they have no clue where he was taken, or why. Even if they found out where he was taken, he had a feeling they would never reach him in time.

There were just too many if. It seemed his fate rested solely in his own hand. He needed to think up a possible escape plan and he had a feeling he needed to find it fast. Dread set in as his abductor's grip tightened on his hand as he was forcefully pushed toward their destination.

-------_____-------

After another half an hour forced march thought the woods, saw them arriving before the ruin of an ancient temple, it was carved into a small hillside. Over the years, vegetation overrun the once magnificent building, and its walls was discolored by the jungle's climate in spite of this the carving and magnificent detailed statues still were mostly clearly visible.

As Judson took in the beauty of this place, with the eloquent carving, and the slightly dulled images over its walls; even in his condition he could feel the mystery which surrounded this place as they moved steadily toward the main entrance of the temple. He didn't noticed immediately when his abductor stopped he was so mesmerized by what he saw. There was something strange about this place, it felt almost sinister. He turned around slowly taking in everything, he cocked his head sideway. There was something in the way the statue's head stood.

"Where is it, Judson?" his abductor's angry growl shattered the silence around him.

"I don't know." The sentence wasn't even fully out of his mouth when he found himself on the floor. Shit, he felt like his head was about to explode, and something warm trickled down the side of his head, he reached up with shaky hand to touch it. As he pulled back his fingers he saw they were covered in blood. "Fuck Morison, I said I don't know yet. We just get here." Judson rasped out thought parched lips.

The other man's lip twitched into an evil smile as he kneeled down before Judson, his grey eyes shone with malice at the wounded man.

"Don't get too cocky, Cross." The man sneered. "While I need you alive, it don't mean in one piece."

He knew Morison's type all too well to knew, Morison would do anything to get his grubby little hands on any priceless artifacts, and wouldn't stop him anything from reaching his goal. If Judson wanted to have a flying chance to escape, he needed to keep as intact as humanly possible. Still he couldn't help himself, as a familiar, but bit shaky cocky smile flashed over his face as he answered.

"What ever you say, Morison."

He didn't see the fist coming, only when his body connected with the hard floor it really registered what happened. He stared stunned at the yellowish dirt under him as it discolored by the blood which trickled from the corner of his mouth. It occurred to him that maybe he should learn to keep his mouth shut as a form of self-preservation… _nah, you can't teach old dog new tricks_. Despite everything he chuckled.

He raised his eyes from the floor when he first noticed it, where before he only saw solid walls now he could make out a faint footpath into the cave. "There." He pointed toward the cave. He was hauled up un-ceremonially to his feet by Morison's goons and 'escorted', toward the temple's entrance.

His body shivered this time not from cold or from fatigue, but shire apprehension. His stomach knotted up in discomfort with every step he made toward the temple. His sense screamed at him in warning to not to enter, to turn back and leave the place behind.

But it wasn't an option this time.

-------_____-------

Flashlights illuminated the cramped passage; it wasn't easy to maneuver on the slippery surface, Judson was sandwiched between two men. The one behind him clicked his tongue in frustration when Judson staggered the third time, stumbling into either of them.

"This' not working Morison. He can't stay upright like this." The man's East European drawl echoed in the small place. Judson could almost image Morison frowning at this statement, while he mastered him with narrowed, calculating eyes. There was a pregnant pause as they waited for the man's decision.

"Let him loses, if he tries to run for it, shot him." Morison drawled sounded from behind Judson. "Just in the leg, mind you, I still need him alive."

"Sure Boss."

Judson tensed up as he felt the present behind him get closer to him; he relaxed slightly when he felt the man cut his binds. As soon as his arms were free, Judson pressed his left hand to his aching ribs, while he used the other to help to support him. While he was steadier he still stumbled occasionally as he moved toward his destination in this dark, definitely manmade tunnel.

-------_____-------

Good five minuets later they reached the end of the tunnel; the cave was naturally illuminated from above by the shifting in sunlight. In the center of the cave stood two pools, with a two faced stone figure that separating them; even from where he stood Judson could see faint scrip on its foot. Judson was forcefully shoved forward, toward the pools. He needed to shift his weight to stay on his feet, his left hand curled protectively over his aching ribs, in hope to try to lessen the damage if he fell after all.

"Get to work Cross," Morison's voice was pure evil, even if Judson wasn't facing the guy he knew the man was smirking at him. He had a bad feeling about this. He needed to find something soon which will help him escape. _Maybe he could trick the man to drink from the wrong pool…_ "Just to make sure you won't try anything _foolish_ you will be the first to test it." _He is a mind reader or what?!_ _Ts, there goes plan A_.

Judson didn't look back at the gloating men, he couldn't afforded it, his eyes flickered over the walls in hope to see some more writing, instruction or clue what could save his life. His gaze settled on the sculpture; he studied the carving on the stone statue. It wasn't that he couldn't read it, it just that he wasn't sure what to make of it. On one side only one word stood proudly despite the fleeting years, 'Sa'kuah'i' which roughly translated mean 'Gift of time'.

His frown deepened, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind whispered at him to stay away from that pool. He limped around to the other side of the statue; it read 'Punishment of time'. Damn, which was the right one, the writing said one thing, his instincts the other. There was no way he could find out which one was the right this time, on the other hand his intuition never let him down. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he studied his surrounding, the walls, the statues, the way light illuminated the cave. Suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and in one instant he was sure. He knew which one would bring life and which one death.

-------_____-------

A shot whizzed past his leg, it whipped up the dust before him, he jerked back reflexively, and grimaced from the sudden movement.

"So which will it be, Cross." Morison's mocking voice shattered the silence in the cave, when Judson didn't answer immediately, he couldn't help to add. "Or the great Judson Cross isn't that great after all?!" Judson slowly turned toward the man and grinned.

"You knew what they say Morison, gossip tend to exaggerate." The man's eyes narrowed dangerously, he held his gun at Judson direction.

"Which one? Or shall I choose for you. For me it didn't matter, I will have my answer in one way or another." Judson's hazel eyes flickered over to the man before he answered.

"That say 'Gift of time', and this' 'Punishment of time'."

"Than let see if the legend was true." Two of Morison's gnome stepped up behind Judson, grabbing his arms, keeping him securely locked between them.

"It's really not necessary. You could just let me go" Judson made a last half-hearted attempt to save himself as he was dragged toward the pools.

"Oh, I am afraid it's really not an option, we must safeguard ourselves you must understand." Morison walked up to Judson under his little speech, nodded with his head toward the 'Punishment of time' titled pool and watched with morbid amusement as the lean treasure hunter was thrown into it.

-------_____-------

As Judson was thrown into the pool, he submerged under the water, reflexively he snapped his mouth shut, and tried to surface. Tried was the operative word, because he couldn't. Strong hands pushed him under again and again. He desperately grabbed the hands holding him down, trying to prey them off him. But time was working against him, his lungs slowly started to burn from lack of oxygen. His failing hands lost their grip. Then he lost the fight, his lunges filled up with water as his mouth opened in hope for a gulp of fresh air. Then the world around him slowly slipped away as he lost consciousness.

-------

When he regained consciousness, his pain filled scream echoed in the cave, his body spasm with each wave of new agony; it felt like his body was tearing itself apart. Each breath felt like thousands needles. His pain clouded mind registered that he was on the cold floor beside one of the pools and if he really concentrated he could made out faint sound of laughing from nearby. He forced open his eyes, everything seemed blurry for his unfocused eyes; after a few second he caught sign of Morison and his man, they were standing near the other pool. One of them was filling up a canteen, taking a sip from it before offering it to the others. He was sure it was a bad idea, but for a life of him, he couldn't remember exactly why. His eyebrows frowned in concentration as he tried to piece together where he was and why.

The pain suddenly intensified, Judson squeezed his eyes closed, nausea built deep in his throat, his hart started to race. He suddenly felt light headed, before he lost consciousness, his last coherent thought was what if he was wrong after all.

-------_____-------

Next awaking was drastically different from the first. While he still felt nausea and was a bit light headed; the awful pain was defiantly gone. He laid on his back and stared up the ceiling, while he tried to make his body cooperate, so he could see better his surrounding. It was awful quiet after all, it never mean good.

It occurred to him after a while that he was still alive. A small miracle if anyone asked, seeing how his last few days run so far, not that he was complaining, not much anyway. It was a stupid thought really, he would admit, but there was a while he thought he really would die there.

He turned his head with great effort to his left where he last saw his '_companions_' .He huffed in frustration when wheat blond hair fallen into his eyes, obscuring his vision. He paused. _'Wheat blond hair. What the...' _He reached up to touch the lock, he tugged on it and yelped in pain. It was HIS lock of hair. He frowned he couldn't even remember when his hair was that type of blond. It was impossible, but it hurt when he pulled on it. His mouth felt awful dry.

He couldn't help but gasped when he first noticed how utterly small and young his hands looked. He knew subconsciously that it was his hand, he could feel it, move it – he moved his finger to test it - but it looked nothing like the last image he had of it. '_Just what the hell was going on.' _His sluggish brain tried to process what's going on, but the buzzing in his ears got worse by every minuet, his whole body shivered. His eyelids suddenly felt very heavy, he couldn't keep them open, he absentmindedly noticed his hand fallen to his chest. He felt so tired. His vision swam and darkness claimed him again.

-------_____-------

Mackenzie Previn and Gabriel Patterson crashed through the woods before them, they heaved from the hard tempo they kept since Judson had been missing and their ship had gotten blown up a few days ago. They hadn't rest since, as soon as they released Judson was gone, they done everything to find him. When they finally found a lead they were in a several hours arrears. They tried to lessen the time gap between them, but it wasn't easy to track Judson's abductor through a damn forest even for Mac.

Their hart bit fastened when they reached the temple, Mac's gaze flickered over the small clearing, reading the sign like one would a book. When she noticed the sign of struggle she saw red, that bastards hurt Judson. She fisted her hand so tight her fingers drew blood.

"Where are they?" Gabe gasped beside him while he whipped off his forehead.

"They went in there." Mac pointed toward the cave's wall.

"Are you sure? All I see is a solid wall."

"Same as me. But they definitely went that way. Come on, we are close, this sign less then two hour old."

-----

They made it through the narrow corridor and when they didn't hear anything they stepped inside the larger cave. Multiply bodies littered the cave's floor, most of them were shivered up and seemingly lifeless, and there was a small blond boy laying on the far side of the cave. Were that Judson's clothes? The boy's groggy hazel eyes opened and met hers. All it took her to knew, while the face looked younger, it definitely was his friend's. She just stood there staring at the _child_, while her mind tried to made sense of what she saw.

"Judson." Surprise was clear in Gabe's call as the young man hurried to Judson's side. It prompt her to made her move as well.

------

After everything they saw over the years it really shouldn't surprise him that everything seemed so much larger or, well, that he got downsized a bit. He stared mesmerized at his own body, it got small and young. He felt a moment panic before his scientific mind kicked in and started to analyze what he knew of the fountain of youth legend of this region and what happened to him so far. It took a bit of time for Mac to snap him out of his musing.

"Judson, are you alright?"

"Yeah, sure. It's just fascinating." Mac raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. Judson couldn't help but grin at the familiar expression. "Well it's this or I start to freak." She chuckled and shook her head at him. She nodded with her head toward the dark haired man as she spoke.

"Gabe just wanted to know if it would help if you take a slip from the other pool. Maybe all it will take to drink from it to regain your old… look."

"I doubt it, Mac. Even if it did, I didn't want to risk it seeing what happened to them." Judson nodded toward the bodies. "But we should take some with us from both, maybe it will help to find out what caused this." His voice sounded a bit too hopeful even for his own ear. Gabe licked his lip and asked the question they were all dancing around since they were reunited.

"What will we do now?"

Silent settled heavily around them.

"Well, we need to get back to the ship, and try to find a way to change me back, hopefully the sample will help. Until them, we need to come up with a plausible cover story about where my "older" counterpart disappears and from where I came from."

"Uhm, Judson. I am not sure how to tell you this but your ship… well it was blow up."

"What?!"


End file.
